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Microsoft Prepares Office Lock-in
An anonymous reader writes "NEWS.COM has an article describing Office 2003's DRM features for documents. This will not only coerce those running older versions of Office to upgrade, which has been a problem for MS in the last few years, but it will also shut out competing software, such as OpenOffice. Now think about this for a second. Even if the developers of a competing office suite could figure out how to get their software to open an Office 2003 document, doing so would be a DMCA violation, since they'd be bypassing an anti-circumvention device. I certainly hope the OpenOffice team will kick development into high gear. If there was a time we need a viable competitor to Office, it's now."
This is going to sound like a troll, but it's really not.
If all of the marketing weenies and pointy haired ones that use Word and PowerPoint as an email format actually had to pay for their copies of Office, they'd quickly start looking for alternatives. Those of us who'd like to stop supporting Microsoft just becausee we have to read documents created by these folks can do something very simple:
Every time you see someone using a pirated version of a Microsoft product in a system that helps maintain the lock-in, mailing you Word docs or similar, inform the Business Software Alliance. If enough of the suits get bent over and reamed by Microsoft lawyers, eventually they'll start to discover that it doesn't make business sense to pirate software. If they stop doing that, then they'll discover that the costs of using MS Office are far higher than they'd previously thought, and they'll start looking for alternatives.
How soon you've forgotten about _NSAKEY.
For you non-USians, NSA stands for No Such Agency.
What/Where are the Open Standards for file formats?
... will all go away as more people get tired of doing repeated additional task to access/convert data into a more open standard transportable, usable, and shareable word-processor, spread-sheet, database, ... format. ...) provide files in readable , editable, usesable, and shareable text or HTML format .... I think, the extra money to MS-Gates and needs for common shareable open file formats will push many to use applications (that create common file formats) that maybe will not be MS-Gates' Proprietary Products and Formats. ... forget MS-Gates OS and then the applications. They are cutting their on throat (I am happy).
MS-BMP, XLS, PPT,
We should THANK MS-Gates for pushing people to choose appropriate file formats. If I always send folks text and HTML formatted documents that they can all read, edit, use, and share, then I am always requesting that they (family, friends, colleagues,
I am at the point that the stupid business decisions of Microsoft will have little or no impact on me or others.
If MS-Gates does not provide an easy to use and install viewer for my PC+OS, then I will not read what someone sends me in MS-word. I think for my family, friends, and business associates we can go back to text-email and use HTML for formatted text documents. As more software applications use open standards file formats
OldHawk777
Reality is a self-induced hallucinations.
Unaccountable leaders are masters, and unrepresented people are slaves. How do US and EU fare?
Sorry to have to say it, and mod me down for redundancy, but I'm Really Pissed Off with the way that the sodding American government basically passes laws that in the current American legal system effectively mean if you have lots of money, you can do what you like.
/me screams at his monitor, looks very pissed off with the whole patent-pending, DMCA'd-to-oblivion utter shocking (and embarassing) mess that is the law on the other side of the pond from him and hopes the middle east collectively nuke congress to hell and back as a result. Kinda.
It doesn't matter if you have all the legal protection in the world, if you can't afford to fight the case in the first place, you're totally screwed. And when it's Microsoft, who can afford to fight it?
</rant>